We will carry your water

I had a client call and say that he needed to hire us to “carry his water”. At first, I thought he misdialed and thought that we were a pool service.

Google: "carry the water" for someone means do something (usually hard and unpleasant, yet necessary) for someone, on their behalf and instead of them whereas normally they would be supposed to do it themselves.

Communication. It's the cornerstone of any good relationship.  

The ads you create, the brochures you distribute, the website you showcase - all convey a message, telling your company's story about who you are and what you stand for, and letting customers know just what you can do for them.

A greater level of interaction is the key to long term success.  You must craft and implement ideas that promote a truly outstanding experience for your clients. These innovations or brainstorms don't need to require an increase in expenditures - but whatever actions you do take should always incorporate a message of care. You can do the very same things you've done before - albeit with a smart twist - a true consumer focus.

A man walked into the airport and hurried over to the counter. "We're so sorry, sir, but you've just missed your plane," the polite clerk informed him. The man, distraught, said, "What am I going to do? I have an appointment halfway across the world a half hour after my plane is supposed to land. I'm going to lose this client - and it's a big one."

The ticket agent didn't just shrug and move on to her next customer. She asked the man for his client's phone number, called the client on the spot, and explained that due to an unavoidable delay, the man wouldn't be able to make the appointment on time - and rescheduled the meeting!

This agent was a great communicator, for she let her customer know that he wasn't just one more face or another plane ticket, but rather a person, one with a problem. She truly felt his frustration, and found a way to help him out.

By thinking out of the box, she provided the ultimate service - and with expert communication, set the groundwork for a long and fruitful customer relationship. She carried his water.

Here are a few tactics that'll increase customer loyalty and generate positive feedback.

• Think differently: In addition to solving customers problems by selling them your own service or product, why not coordinate a strategic alliance with other related business that can benefit customers via convenience and yourself through commissions for every sale. If you sell copy machine paper for example, why not bundle up with the ink toner company down the street for a joint blowout sale?

• Think creatively: Don't just wait for your clients to come calling - spark their interest by sending them a customized birthday or holiday card along with a complimentary coupon and offer.

• Just think: Take all the personal information you know about a customer and use it to create a customized sales letter addressing their specific needs - be it for their family, personal lifestyle or hobbies. Change the way you view making sales from a passive action to a strategically intelligent process.

So, when deciding how and when and what to market, keep in mind that you're speaking to your customers and it's a worthwhile investment to augment your communication skills. Everyone can use help carrying their water.

T-Mobile 4G Girl got Married! (Geeks Only Version)

Well, looks like bratwurst will be on the menu at the AT&T reception at CTIA. In a rather surprising move, AT&T announced yesterday it was acquiring T-Mobile for $39 billion. This is the first in what is likely to be several major deals in defining what the next generation structure will look like for the communications industry.  

Bottom line: a little less choice for a lot more network

On to the key questions.

1) Does this make sense? Yes. It shows how we're in the midst of a huge shift in wireless. The last wave of consolidation, circa 2005-2008, which resulted in the creation of AT&T redux out of SBC and BellSouth, the strengthening of Verizon through a number of corporate acquisitions - the largest of which being Alltel - and a spate of spectrum bolstering though (AWS, 700 MHz), was about creating national 3G networks, filling coverage and capacity gaps, and consolidating customer bases.

But this latest wave is about scale. The pace of device innovation and growth of connected mobile computing devices is putting enormous pressure on the operators to deliver ubiquitous, high-capacity mobile broadband networks. Real 4G, not "4G". Operators feel that they must marshal the maximum resources possible to meet the surging demand for mobile data. And, as I wrote last week, better to have 3-4 really good national mobile broadband networks than the more diluted scenario that would have resulted from the status quo industry structure.

Another, and somewhat overlooked factor, is cost. It still costs a wireless operator 7-10x to deliver a "bit" of data over a wireless network, compared to wireline (case study: FiOS vs. LTE pricing). Anything an operator can do to narrow that delta will benefit both them and consumers. It's sort of like the unfunded retiree pension and health care cost crisis that has been hitting the states. They look out three to five years and realize that on their current revenue track, there's no way they can meet their obligations under current contracts. Wireless operators look at the growth of wireless connected devices and data demand and wonder how they will continue to deliver data services profitably, and at reasonable prices.

Retail redundancy is another key factor. There are a lot of under-performing wireless operator "doors", especially as Apple, Best Buy, and other consumer electronics retailers are playing a more prominent role in retail distribution.

2) Why T-Mobile? What was once the Big Four had become the Big Two, Plus Two. Sure, some of the challenges at Sprint and T-Mobile are partially of their own making. But differentiation - in an over the top world, when you don't have a national 4G network or an iPhone - has become difficult. And T-Mobile, which for most of its existence was the "value" choice, focused on urban youth, has been facing enormous competition from Metro PCS, Leap Wireless, and the various brands of Tracfone, MVNOs, and other flank brands. It is ironic that in these frothiest of times for wireless, more operators than not have been finding it challenging going. Hmm.

3) Is This Good for Customers?  Many will argue that customers will have less choice and will pay higher prices for service. They point to cable as the case study. Sure, there will, ultimately, be fewer facilities-based operators than there were at the "peak" of wireless competition. But consumers will benefit if we can get more quickly to a robust choice of ubiquitous, high capacity, speedy mobile broadband networks, versus the "there's Verizon and then everybody else" perception that has pervaded for several years.  We might be moving toward an oligopoly in wireless services, but with flank brands, MVNOs, and the power of Best Buy, Apple, Wal-Mart, and other distributors, the wireless sector is still more competitive than landline phone, cable/satellite TV, utilities, and most types of insurance, to name a few.

4) Who Are the Winners and Losers? This one depends on who you're talking to. AT&T is a clear winner, if it can pull this off. It gets a faster and less expensive track to getting where it needs to be, network wise. It is also less reliant on the FCC's timetable for more spectrum. For T-Mobile, the picture is more mixed. With Sprint, it would have been a merger, and T-Mobile would have had a more vital role in determining what the future of that entity would look like. But it woulda been messy - corporately, financially, and networkally. LightSquared's path to market, from a regulatory perspective, is likely made smoother by the AT&T deal.  

Another winner is Apple, which just gained 30 million potential iPhone customers without having to "ink" another carrier deal. Application developers are also winners, since mobile OS is following a similarly consolidating track, with operators becoming less central to their success. A consolidated operator landscape could enhance their distribution and help speed the rollout of enhanced capabilities, from carrier billing to speedier deployment of IP/IMS-based services. The operators also have a better shot to become more viable forces in areas such as mobile advertising and mobile commerce. ISIS' job just got a third easier.

I also think the enterprise market is a winner here. Their focus is more on harnessing the capabilities of these wonderful new devices, OSs, and app development platforms than shaving a few cents off their wireless pricing plan. They'd be happy with a little less choice in return for a lot more network. And T-Mobile has never been a major player in the enterprise.

Among the losers are certain vendors who sell exclusively to the operator community. AT & T-MO will spend less and deploy less than AT&T plus T-Mobile would have. There will be consolidation of facilities, which will hurt some network infrastructure vendors, tower companies, billing vendors, and others who ride on the coat-tails of these companies.

5) What About Sprint? Sprint, predictably, put out a statement that the deal is bad for consumer choice. Ironically however AT&T's taking T-Mobile out of the picture could strengthen Sprint's role as an important third national operator. It could also pick up some customers as part of the likely market-by-market concessions AT&T will have to make in order to appease regulators. It was difficult to see a world where Sprint and T-Mobile survived independently. However, Sprint's structure will have to evolve from what it is today in order to be competitive with Verizon and AT&T. The financing, ownership structure, and management of Clearwire becomes an even more urgent issue. LightSquared and Open Range are also waiting in the wings as either complements, or alternatives, to Clearwire, as part of a hybrid facilities-based and wholesale national 4G network.  

Some have also postulated Verizon might acquire Sprint, in a modern-day mobile arms race with AT&T. I think this is unlikely. AT&T needs T-Mobile a lot more than Verizon needs Sprint. Verizon has an excellent spectrum position in most major markets. Sprint and all its financial entanglements and mishpocheh would be complex and redundant for Verizon and its 45% owner, Vodafone, to digest. More likely for Verizon: a series of smaller, more surgical moves. And, at some point, taking the remaining 55% of the company back from Vodafone.

Could a cable company such as Comcast acquire Sprint? Possibly, although cable initiatives in wireless have struck out three times - all with Sprint (latest case study: Clearwire).

This also makes things interesting for Metro PCS and Leap Wireless. Although AT&T's subsuming of T-Mobile removes a large competitor in the "value" segment of the market, I think they will ultimately combine, and/or be acquired by another operator, possibly Sprint or Verizon.

6) What About Antitrust?  No doubt this deal will draw scrutiny. I'd advise the DOJ and FCC to start thinking really differently about the communications industry. Less regulating and more facilitating. We don't need the umpteenth "Report on Competitiveness in the Wireless Communications Industry". Rather, we need the "Report on What We Are Doing to Get the Best Fixed and Mobile Broadband Networks Out to as many Americans as Possible", to fully harness the transition from wireless communications to mobile computing. These fantastic new devices, incidentally, are based on OSs and chips developed primarily by U.S. corporations. In other words, focus less on whether consumers can choose from X or Y number of operators, and more on how we can achieve a leadership position in the availability and capacity of broadband networks, and how we can reduce cost of delivering all those bits given our vast geography and relatively low population density. Achieving those goals will lead to more competition and lower prices.

Focus!

Keeping your focus, your eye on the ball, having a clear target in hand, is a wonderful tool in business. Many companies fail at their attempts to attract new customers simply due to their lack of clear, specific goals. You want more customers, right? But do you know how many more? How much more money do you want to make this year? How many leads you'll need to follow to get solid clients?

Imagine you own a company which grosses 10 million a year. This year, you'd like to up the ante to 12 million. How many more customers would you need?

If each customer brings in an average of $25,000, to reach an additional 2 million this year you'll need 80 more customers. Assuming a closing rate of 50%, you need 160 hot leads to acquire these 80 additional customers. To get 160 hot leads, three times as many cold and warm leads are needed - a total of 480 leads.

Your goal is now perfectly clear: 480 leads this year will increase your income by 2 million dollars. The next step is to determine if your goal is realistic and achievable - but at least now you know where you're headed!

Some people reach out to advertising agencies or use social media to generate new leads. Others utilize their salespeople to step up the pace. Whatever method you choose to reach your goal, locking your focus will facilitate steady progress.

Here's a few Practical Pointers that will help you determine goals and achievability:

Broad Picture: Just handling the day to day issues in your company can stunt your growth and cause you to revolve in place instead of moving forward. Setting long term goals will allow you to precisely focus on priorities.

Details, Details: Whatever your strategy, be as specific as possible in each and every step of the process: the who, what, where, when, why and how.  

Reality Check: Impractical dreams can bury your company in stardust if you don't have the resources to support them. Choose wise, achievable goals that challenge the company in a healthy, sustainable way.

Sorry I'm late, Boss, but the dog ate my BlackBerry

I am looking for a programmer who can build an app for me. I think it will be worth millions. Very simply, it works this way. When one of my (vendors, clients, contractors, etc.) that I gave a deposit or signed a contract says that they are going to do something for me by a certain time or date (and they don’t keep their promise) their phone starts screaming out “I’m late!” and the only way it can be shut off is with a password that only I can supply.

Being late for an appointment or a date can seem like a small thing that really doesn’t matter, but it communicates volumes, whether we mean it to or not. Being kept waiting is an experience that almost no one enjoys, because at best, it wastes their time, and at worst, it indicates a lack of regard. It’s as if we’re saying that our time is more important than their time, so we don’t need to honor them by showing up when we said we would. When we are running late, it means a lot if we call and let the person know, especially if it’s going to be more than ten minutes. However, if we are chronically late, it may take more than a phone call to properly address the issue.

If it’s become a habit of ours not to be on time, or worse – miss a deadline at work - we may want to look inside ourselves and see what’s going on. It’s easy enough to make excuses about our behavior, or to project responsibility on the other person, perceiving them to be uptight if they are irritated by our tardiness. What’s more difficult, and more meaningful, is looking at ourselves and asking why it is that we always, or often, show up late. Sometimes this happens out of a lack of self-regard, as if we aren’t really important anyway, so why will anyone care if we’re late, or don’t show up at all. Chronic lateness can also stem from being disorganized, or simply trying to do too much in one day. Another possible reason for being late to a particular appointment, or missing a project milestone, is that we don’t really want to be there in the first place. We communicate our disinterest or boredom by not showing up on time or in the extreme case, by not showing up at all.

In today’s Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, Blackberry, 4G laptop world, simply forgetting about an appointment or missing a meeting or a project deadline is almost impossible (for those who really want the job). Even blizzards, floods and other natural disasters cannot keep those responsible (who really want to do the work) from getting on with business.  Audio, web and videoconferencing allows anyone to work from just about anywhere. Skype, Instant Messaging, Voicemail, Video mail, cell phones, and other assortments of gizmos and gadgets makes it really hard for someone to make excuses in the new world of the Internet. The days of “my dog ate my homework” are long gone, both at school and at the office.

Ask yourself when was the last time that you missed a meeting, or simply forgot to do something, where you were not constantly reminded of the tasks at hand with an assortment of emails, voice mail messages, and all sorts of buzzers and alarms ringing your phones, laptops and assorted social media tools? Whatever our reasons, if we raise them to the conscious level, we have an opportunity to live a more conscious life. As we begin to understand the deeper reasons behind our inability to show up on time, or to complete a task on time and on budget, we have the option to communicate clearly and consciously about how we really feel, rather than communicating unconsciously by being late.

So, when the “I’m Late” app is ready for testing, I will have a free download on my website for anyone who wants to give it a whirl.  I have a few programmers who have promised me a working prototype by the weekend.  I hope they are not late, or they will (also) become my first customer.

Why do you rob banks?

Willy Sutton was a depression era bank robber. He was wanted for robberies in Miami, New Orleans, and New York. After his capture in 1950, a reporter asked him why he robbed banks. His reply was, “Because that’s where the money is.” Aside from the lack of moral justification, his strategy was sound: go where the money is.

Despite the unsteady state of the domestic US economy, the worldwide telecommunications industry is expected to continue expanding over the next five years as continued spending by consumers and businesses for wireless services, especially in emerging markets, drives industry revenue growth.  Telecommunications services revenues on a worldwide basis are expected to grow at a compounded rate of nine percent over the next five years, bringing the sum spent globally on telecommunications to $25.6 trillion by 2016.

Wireless makes the strongest showing while wireline follows a distant second. Nearly all of the growth in both sectors is expected to occur in broadband services, with wireless broadband service revenues expected to grow at a compounded rate of more than 45 percent over the forecast period, while wireline broadband services grow at almost a 14 percent compounded rate over the same forecast horizon.

While there are indications that the worst of the economic turmoil on a global basis is past, job creation in the US still remains elusive, and is slowing domestic recovery. Yet even amidst the uncertainty, we expect the telecommunications industry to continue growing.  Telecom is as necessary to development as roads and bridges, so we expect it to fare much better than other economic segments that may take longer to return to normalcy.

So, are you looking for work? Thinking about a career change? You might want to take a page out of Willy Sutton’s playbook, and go where the money is.  There are always industries that do well, regardless of the economy.  Telecom and IT are always in demand. And, over time, working in telecom and IT pays much better than robbing banks.

Sounds Fishy To Me

A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how grandma always did it."

Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it. Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."

So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great-grandma to find ask if she knew the answer. Great-grandma thought for a while and said, "Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish".

When running a company or business, people often become accustomed to going about their routine of managing the ordinary day-to-day business tasks. These people don't necessarily put much thought into what they are doing or analyze ways to improve their entity - and who can blame them?

Between jumping from project to project, handling typical workday emergencies, and going through the daily grind of dealing with numerous employees, vendors and customers, it's difficult to maintain a comprehensive business outlook and come up with ways to improve the company as a whole.

But to achieve success, it's necessary.

While it's crucial to take a hands-on approach and ensure a company remains running properly, smart business owners will often take a step back and implement strategic methods to strengthen their company and keep it on the right track.

Now, you probably don't have the time or luxury to start analyzing ways to work on your overall business strategy - so I've done it for you!

Lock Your Door - Change your business mindset by spending a day alone, away from employees and customers, to review the things that are helping your business grow - and those that are impeding it from being successful. Analyze which employees are assets to your business and how they can be given more responsibilities. Think about the steps you take to get your customers returning to your store or business. Calculate ways to outsource certain non-essential tasks that can otherwise slow your productivity.

Turn off the cellular phone - Yes, that's right. Forget about talking to your vendors, friends and relatives - spend the day talking to your employees instead. Ask them for ideas on how they think customer service methods can be improved. Find out how they feel about your business operations and if there are changes that can be made to help it run smoother. Above all, you can boost employee morale by letting them be involved in business decisions that relate to their specific field of experience.

Unplug the computer - Turn off the distractions posed by your Email's Inbox and spend the day crunching numbers instead. Calculate which products and/or services are performing well and which ones aren't. Strategize ways to cut costs and slash wasteful business spending. Analyze which areas of your business are profitable and how you can expand those money-making parts even more.

You don't have to abandon your daily business routine to improve overall business strategy - start by following these tips and see where it takes you.

And eat more fish!  It’s good for you.

Happy Birthday, Egypt!

When Internet access was fully restored in Egypt after a one-week blackout (in a failed attempted to thwart anti-government protesters) Facebook and Twitter statistics when through the roof. Despite the blackout, one of the biggest players throughout this crisis has been social technology.

Innovation by Silicon Valley's brightest has kept people on the ground in Egypt connected to the outside world throughout the crisis. A Google-Twitter partnership set up international phone numbers allowed people to call and leave a voicemail that was automatically tweeted. This meant when mobile networks were down, people could call from landlines and still reach their Internet audience.

This is not the first time social media has empowered people in crisis. Twitter was first recognized as a weapon in the fight for democracy during the 2009 Iranian election uprising. 

Has anyone reading this ever used a GPS system in their car? 

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable location and time information in all weather and at all times and anywhere on or near the Earth when and where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible by anyone with a GPS receiver. GPS was created and realized by the U.S. Department of Defense (USDOD) and was originally run with 24 satellites. It was established in 1973 to overcome the limitations of previous navigation systems. Now, we all get to use this magical service – for free – to help you find your way home, or to plan your best route to work, avoiding traffic along the way.

Anyone here ever use the Internet? 

The origins of the Internet reach back to research of the 1960s, commissioned by the United States government in collaboration with private commercial interests to build robust, fault-tolerant, and distributed computer networks. The funding of a new U.S backbone by the National Science Foundation in the 1980s, as well as private funding for other commercial backbones, led to worldwide participation in the development of new networking technologies, and the merger of many networks. The commercialization of what was by the 1990s an international network resulted in its popularization and incorporation into virtually every aspect of modern human life. As of 2009, an estimated quarter of Earth's population used the services of the Internet.

Almost every technology that we all use and that we all take for granted – every single day – was born out of multi-billion dollar budgets from massive corporations. (I consider the US Government to be a massive corporation).  We are then ultimately judged by how we use (and then master) these once very expensive tools.

The first “cell phone” call was made on the moon, as cellular phone technology was born out of the space race. Today, we cannot think of leaving our homes without our cell phones.  The magic of sending and receiving a “fax” was a big deal in the 90’s, and owning a fax machine back then was considered to be a status symbol for a small business. 

Will you Tweet today?  Will you post anything on Facebook?  Do you have a website for your business?  And most importantly, do you have a proper social media strategy for your business?  I've been mostly silent on the "social media revolution in Egypt" meme because, frankly, I didn't want to join an already crowded chorus until enough information had emerged for the beginning of an actual analysis.  Justly or not, the idea of the uprising in Egypt being a "Twitter revolution" or "Facebook revolt" has become one of the major narratives in the American media. I think it will be the first of many.

Here is what I do know to be true. Not every technology will last the test of time. Fax machines were hot, and now, not so much. Cell phones were hot – and they stayed hot – and they will get even hotter as the Smartphone replaces the PC. Will Social Media be as popular as it is today, ten years from now? I say yes.

If you are in business, you cannot afford to ignore the social media revolution. You would not think to have a business in today’s world, without a website, would you?  Not too many years ago, people in business had to ask themselves, if they needed a phone number listed in the Yellow Pages. Just as the term “Webmaster” was born in the 80’s the term “Social Media Expert” (or something like that) will become the norm in business.

Do you know what is worse than not having a website?  A bad website.  Do you know what is worse than having no Social Media strategy for your business?  Having a bad social media strategy. In the business of tomorrow, your social media expert will become just as important as your CPA, Attorney or Bookkeeper.  Govern yourself accordingly, and don’t try to do it alone.

In closing, Happy Birthday, Egypt! I’ll go now and put a nice posting on your Facebook page.